Gift Guide: Web Services

It’s both a good last-minute option and a fine choice: a subscription to a web-based service that will make someone’s life easier. Here are some of our favourite premium web services.

Crashplan+

If you have a friend who still isn’t backing up their data, it’s the perfect time to give them the gift of bulletproof backup thanks to Crashplan. Even if they’re backing up to an external drive, that isn’t good enough — they need something in the cloud so that no matter what happens, their backups are always accessible and they don’t become another sad story of lost data. Crashplan is our favourite option, being cheap and easy to set up, so get them in the habit now.

LastPass and Xmarks Premium

If you know someone with multiple computers, the gift of synchronisation can be a wonderful thing. Give them a combined subscription to LastPass and Xmarks for their passwords, bookmarks, history, open tabs and everything else so they’re able to browse easily from any computer. Xmarks is convenient, but LastPass is the most important app here, as it gives you the enhanced security everyone should have — make sure they create good passwords and turn on two-factor authentication, while you’re at it, so they don’t fall prey to the ever-increasing number of hacks happening nowadays. The pro versions give you access to the mobile apps for each service, more secure two-factor authentication with a thumb drive or YubiKey, plus an ad-free experience and priority support. You can buy each service separately, but buying them both together gets you a pretty sweet discount.

Evernote Premium

Evernote is still your favourite note-taking application, and it’s only improved lately. If you know someone that isn’t using Evernote yet — particularly if they need some extra organisation in their life — a subscription to Evernote Premium is a great way to get them started. A premium subscription gets you more space per month, offline notebooks, collaborative notes, better speed, PDf search, priority support and an ad-free experience. It’s the perfect way to take someone’s organisation from good to awesome with one simple download.

Big Spenders: $10 a Month and Up

Spotify Premium

If your friend has truly embraced streaming and switched to Spotify for their music-listening needs, they need a premium subscription. Not only will it get rid of the ads, but it gives them higher-quality audio and lets them listen on their iPhone or Android phone, truly completing the Spotify experience. It may not be ready to replace most people’s libraries, but if you know someone who has fallen in love with it, you should help them go all-out with a Premium subscription.

A VPN for Privacy And Global Browsing

A VPN may seem like an ultra geeky gift, but it’s something not everyone knows they need, and nobody wants to pay for. However, it can be useful for all sorts of people, but especially good for users looking for an extra bit of privacy or access to global streams. Every user is different, so hit the link below to see some of the VPNs we recommend.

Extra Dropbox Space

Dropbox is one of our all-time favourite web services, and while you can grab a lot of space for free, sometimes you just need to pony up for a premium subscription. A subscription to expanded space can be great for students, video editors with large files, or people that just want to sync their large music or photo libraries across computers.